books.google.com - "Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils...https://books.google.com/books/about/Bird_by_Bird.html?id=KfKPLPQ4IJMC&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareBird by Bird

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

"Superb writing advice... hilarious, helpful and provocative." -- "New York Times Book Review."

"A warm, generous and hilarious guide through the writer's world and its treacherous swamps." -- "Los Angeles Times."

"A gift to all of us mortals who write or ever wanted to write... sidesplittingly funny, patiently wise and alternately cranky and kind -- a reveille to get off our duffs and start writing "now," while we still can." -- "Seattle Times."

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LibraryThing Review

User Review - ValerieAndBooks - LibraryThing

Bird by Bird was actually a re-read for me. I can't remember the first time I read this (which was sometime in between its publication in 1994 and a few years back), but I liked it well enough then ... Read full review

LibraryThing Review

User Review - lucybrown - LibraryThing

There is very little new "advice" in Bird by Bird. What made the book for me was the author's humor and wry outlook.Read full review

About the author (1994)

Anne Lamott lives with her son, Sam, in northern California. She is the author of five books, including the novels Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, and All New People. Her last book, Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year, was published by Pantheon in 1993.